June Monthly Challenge Reveal

Belated Solstice Blessings to one and all. :0)

I'm a little late with posting pics of my JA/S&S Monthly Challenge piece: things were a little busy over the weekend and by Sunday tea time I was feeling really off with a stomach upset - today it gave way to a bad headache which kept me in bed for most of the day. Thankfully I'm feeling much better now, so am having a catch-up.

Here's the front of the piece I stitched:

I chose to stitch the freebie by Blue Ribbon Designs: A Christmas Wish of Health and Happiness. I've used DMC threads throughout and a piece of 32ct linen from my stash - I don't know what it's called but it's a blue grey colour.
Here's what I did on the back:

I love the little pillow ornie finish - it's easy to do! I had the charm and some gold cording in my stash. I wrapped some of the burgundy thread (used for the holly berries) around the cord in a criss-cross pattern and added little rows of Mill Hill beads to the side in burgundy and gold to brighten it a little. Am quite pleased with how it turned out and that's one more ornie to add to my Yule decorations. :0)

It's been a pleasure looking at the album - the pieces stitched and the finishes are varied and a couple made me want to try them, like the scissor pockets that Helen and Terri finished their pieces as. Beautiful work ladies! The July choices are up (four of them) and choosing was difficult: they were all lovely designs but I particularly liked two of them. I eventually made my choice and voted and am now looking forward to finding out which one we'll be stitching.

I made a start on the next part of the Ozark SAL but that has ground to a halt as I didn't feel much like stitching this weekend, what with one thing and another, but am hoping to get back to it tomorrow as it shouldn't take very long to do. I have been doing a little more reading instead (when my head wasn't aching) and have finished a second book this month - that's good going for me, as I usually only read a little at bedtime. This book was a historical whodunnit - see first item on the list in the side bar if you want a nosey - and I hope to get my hands on the next two books in the series (time for a trip to the library again, methinks). :0)

Saturday DH and I had a walk down the local High Street where we sorted out a little business at the building society before going to the opticians. Result of my eye test: a slightly stronger distance bit needed, alteration to the close up area (hopefully I'll be able to focus on my stitching whilst leaving my specs on, so I can watch TV as well, like I used to be able to) and the addition of prisms as my eyes muscles or lenses or something have weakened. Sheesh, did I feel old when I came out of there! LOL DH neded stronger lenses and treated himself to a new pair of frames with transitional lenses - so we'll also be quite a few quid poorer when that bill needs paying!
We went to Il Sorriso for dinner afterwards, then home. In the afternoon we went to the Pink Pig to do some shopping, then on to Screwfix to get a new tap for the bathroom sink (yet another DIY job to do - doesn't everything seem to go wrong at the same time?) and then on to The Range. There I bought some storage items for some of my cardmaking goodies (still trying to organise stuff!), a large circle punch , a CD storage unit, a DoCrafts Goody Bag, three Celtic rubber stamps (a bargain at 99p each) but only came away with one lot of flowers - they had very little in that line which was disappointing but I can't complain as the other bits more than made up for that. LOL :0)

Sunday DH popped out to do a little shopping at Tesco, otherwise it was a stay-at-home day - there was a Grand Prix on. I'd also been feeling a little iffy all day, which is why I didn't fancy going out anywhere, and by tea time I found out why. :0(
Thankfully whatever it was has been short lived - although it did mean cancelling Alex's usual visit, just in case it was catching. The long sleep I had today really helped - just hope I can sleep tonight! LOL

With all that I've managed to fall behind with blog reading again (just for a change!) so hopefully I'll catch up with that in the next day or two and see what you all got up to over the weekend.

In the meantime: hope you all had an enjoyable weekend and a good start to the week. :0)